New research by Gallup among US citizens marks a record level of people who find gambling as a “morally acceptable” activity.
Poll by Gallup Shows Record Level of Gambling Acceptance in the US
Newly published poll by Gallup outlines record numbers of Americans finding gambling as “morally acceptable”. According to the numbers, 71% of the Americans deemed the activity as acceptable. The results of the survey placed gambling on fifth place when it comes to morally acceptable activities. The top activity marked as “morally acceptable” is birth control, where 90% of the interviewed found it acceptable. Next in the list of “morally acceptable” activities, responders placed drinking of alcohol, divorce and sex out of wedlock.
When it comes to gambling, according to Gallup, we observe an increased number of people who found the activity as “morally acceptable”. With that being said, last year’s numbers showed 68%. On the other hand, in 2018, the acceptability towards gambling was 69%. Turning our eyes to the lowest numbers recorded by Gallup, back in 2009 only 58% of the Americans found gambling to be acceptable. With this year’s results, we also observe a decreased number of people who found gambling as “morally wrong”. Only 27% of the interviewed answered in such manner, which marks yet another record.
Acceptance of Gambling Based on Political Views, Gender and Education
According to the results of Gallup’s poll, we observe different responses when it comes to acceptance of gambling based on political views. The poll separated the responders in three categories: republican, democrat and moderate.
Results of the group that self-described themselves as liberals, 78% of the responders found gambling to be “morally acceptable”. Looking at the moderate responders, they showed 70% acceptance towards gambling. However, this number drops down to 61% when it comes to responders from the conservative self-described group. Focusing on the results of responders that found gambling to be “morally wrong” we observe a reverse tendency. Some 36% of the responders from the self-described group of conservatives found gambling to be “morally wrong”. On the other hand gambling to be “morally wrong” was found by the moderate and liberal groups by 23% and 19% respectively.
Looking at results of responders who found gambling as “morally acceptable” when it comes to gender, results are similar. Some 72% of males found gambling acceptable and 69% of females. When it comes to education, gambling was found “morally acceptable” by 77% of the responders with some college education. At the same time, 75% of the colleague graduates found gambling acceptable. Some 62% of the responders with high school education or less said that gambling is “morally acceptable”.
Further to Gallup’s research, a record low number of people found the death penalty as “morally acceptable” in the US. Responders that found the death penalty as “morally acceptable” were some 54% of the interviewed. This marked a decrease of six percent when comparing last year’s results. With that being said, it’s important to mention that the record when it comes to supporting the death penalty was set in 2006. Back then, some 71% of the responders found death penalty as “morally acceptable”.